Acid Rain Essay

1064 Words5 Pages
Acid Rain Report Acid rain is rainfall that has been acidified. Rain is acidified by oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. Acid rain is formed when pollutants called oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, contained in power plant smoke, factory smoke, and car exhaust, react with the moisture in the atmosphere. Acid rain can cause buildings, statues and bridges to deteriorate faster than usual. Another problem is it harms thousands of lakes, rivers, and streams worldwide. It disrupts lake ecosystems and kills wildlife in affected lakes, rivers and streams. Acid rain also damages soil and the tree roots in it. Another problem is it will harm people when they breathe in smog, acid rain in one of its many forms. There are several places around the world affected by acid rain and here are the main ones. The North-eastern section of the United States where acid rain is caused by high numbers of factories and power plants is one affected area. Also in that same region, the South-eastern section of Canada is affected and the main cause is factories in the Toronto-Hamilton area. Central Europe and Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Finland) are also affected, here being the British and other European factories doing the damage. One more main area that is affected is parts of Asia, specifically India and China, where acid rain is caused by large numbers of factories. The problem of acid rain originated during the 1730's, at the height of the industrial revolution. It was discovered in the 1950's and started being noticed in the 1960's. Since the 1960's, the problem has gotten worse in rural areas because the tall chimneys on factories allow the wind to transport pollutants far away from their sources. In 1984 it was reported that almost half of the trees in the famous black forest in Germany had been damaged by acid rain. In 1988, as part of the United Nations-sponsored Long Range

More about Acid Rain Essay

Open Document